Lex Luthor
Alexander "Lex" Luthor, Sr. is the arch-nemesis of Superman and the main villain in ''Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman''.'' On the outside Lex seemed to be legitimate businessman but on the inside he was a evil power seizing tycoon and later on became a dangerous psychopathic criminal. His two main goals were always to claim Lois Lane for his own and kill his hated rival. He was portrayed by John Shea. History Little is known about Lex's past except that he was born in a wealthy family and his parents died when he was seven years old. Years later he eventually established Lex Corp, a vast empire consisting of transportation, broadcasting, industrial and other sources. He oversaw all this from his enormous Lex Corp tower, the tallest building in Metropolis. In the years that followed he married Arianna Carlin on October 4, 1984, but they spilt up a few years later with his ex-wife still loving Lex who would later go to great lengths to avenge him. He also had several lovers, two of which gave him two illegitimate sons Lex Luthor, Jr. and Jaxon Xavier. Lex saw Jr. as a bitter disappointment because of his disfigured appearance and after his mother in Hong Kong died in childbirth, Lex left Jr. to be raised alone in the shadows in Australia behind closed doors with no sunlight or human contact and only visited him once. But he later left him a recorded message that Jr. would soon be able to use to his advantage. Jaxon eventually grew up and became a scientist at Lex Corp, one of Lex's scientific corporations. Jaxon's mother had died in a car accident, but Jaxon survived. Lex however, never told anyone he was his son, never showed him any love or affection and told people that he was dead as he saw Jaxon as a mistake. Lex became one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Metropolis, but all that was about to change with the arrival of Superman. Season 1 Lex was now the third richest man in the world and in his opinion had the whole world wrapped around his finger. But when Superman arrived and foiled his first scheme involving illegal doings during a space programme, the Man of Steel confronted him and told him that he disliked his disregard for the law and getting what he wanted at the exspense of others. He vowed justice would be served and that Lex would eventually have his mighty kingdom crumble and serve time behind bars like any ordinary criminal. Lex scoffed at this threat, but told Superman: "Let the Games Begin." (Pilot) Lex along with his personal assistant Nigel began to test Superman's powers and weaknesses at the expense of innocent lives, which eventually drove the Man of Steel to confront him and angrily tell him to stop these tests, but Lex told him that as long as he was in Metropolis innocent people would die and asked him if he was willing to hold that responsibility. Super eventually proved to Lex that he was willing and after this experience Lex knew that he would eventually win against his adversary because he saw Superman's morals and feelings towards humanity to be his ultimate undoing. (Neverending Battle) His many schemes after this were mostly for his own personal gain, outwitting Superman and turning the public against him. Once, he nearly succeed when a heat wave caused by his own nuclear power plant made the people of Metropolis blame Superman and forced him to leave the city. Lex saw this as his ultimate victory, but Superman eventually discovered what he was up to stopped his plant resuting in him having to pay for the damages he has caused to the city. (The Man of Steel Bars) After dating Lois Lane, Lex fell in love with her and saw Superman as a rival for Lois' affections as she was smitten with the Man of Steel and even kissed him in front of him after thing he was under the influence of pheromones from a scheme that one of his ex-lovers Miranda had thought up. (Pheromone, My Lovely) After hiring a young boy named Jack to ransack Clark Kent's apartment, Lex got hold of a globe resembling Superman's home planet Krypton that played holograms and messages of the Man of Steel's past. Although Superman got it back before Lex had finished learning from it, he had learned that Superman had come to Earth as an infant and raised as an Earthling, making him even more confident of defeating the Man of Steel if he ever learned who he really was. (Foundling) Later he stole a lock of hair Superman had donated to charity to make a clone of the Man of Steel that he himself could control, but it all failed when the clone realised he was just a puppet to follow Lex's bidding and turned against him. The clone took back the lock of hair and gave it to Superman to destroy as well as himself so no one else would create a clone of him again. (Vatman) Lex finally proposed to Lois while they were on a jet. Lois gently told him that they have only been together for a few weeks and there was the Daily Planet and her friends to think about. Lex then decided to drive Lois away from her old routine. First he bought the Daily Planet and then set up an explosion to blow it up whilst framing young assistant Jack who had taken a dislike to him. He also found a large chunk of green Kryptonite that he could use to finally destroy Superman. Though he was now unpopular with the staff at the now destroyed Daily Planet, Lois still thought of him as a genuine person and accepted her now job as a news announcer for LNN (Luthor News Network and eventually accepted Lex's proposal. They then began making plans for their Wedding. (Barbarians at the Planet) Lex now starts plotting with his new personal assistant Mrs. Cox (why Nigel left his employ has never been mentioned) on how they will finally prize Lois away from her old routine and he will have the wife he has always wanted. He then asks her to send a message to Clark Kent to contact Superman (Lex is unaware of Clark and Superman being one of the same) and tell him to meet him to discuss about Lois. Superman arrives in the wine cellar and Lex asks him to persuade Clark to attend Lois and his wedding with the Man of Steel being a guest as well. But Superman knowing about the terrible things Lex has done refuses, so Lex traps Superman in a cage laid with Kryptonite bars and leaves him there to die. While he prepares for the wedding, he comes down to the wine cellar to mock his enemy one last time. He tortures him by placing a white curtain cord on his neck and leaves him while carelessly leaving the cage key on the one of the casks of wine while singing how much he is going to enjoy being Lois' husband. Eventually Lex is standing at the altar smiling and admiring how beautiful Lois looks. When she finally reaches the aisle, they start to exchange vows, but Lois has a change of heart and tells an astonished Lex that she can't marry him after all. Suddenly the doors fly open and Daily Planet editor in chief Perry White along with employees Jimmy Olsen and Jack who had now been cleared came in followed by the police. They had gathered enough evidence to put Lex away for a long time. Inspector Henderson held out a warrant for arson and other crimes that were too numerous to mention. After seeing Mrs. Cox arrested too, Lex refused to go quietly and fought his way through the police and prepared to make his escape. He went back down to the wine cellar to quickly kill the Man of Steel before leaving, but to his horror and rage, Superman had escaped, having used the curtain cord to get the key and free himself so Lex took off once again, unaware that his enemy was amongst the casks of wine recovering. Lex finally reached his office on the top floor of his tower, Henderson and the police were closing in on him, but Lex still refused to give up. He went to his balcony and climbed on top vowing that he would never live in a cage. He then threw himself of it to the street below, committing suicide. Superman who was now dressed as Clark Kent watched Lex falling, but couldn't save him as he was too weak from the Kryptonite exposure so Lex landed hard on the street below. Afterwards his corpse was stolen from the police morgue, but the Daily Planet was repossessed and rebuilt. (The House of Luthor) Season 2 Lex's corpse was stolen by Arianna (his ex-wife) and his former physician Gretchen Kelly and hoped to bring him back from the dead. Arianna vowed to avenge her ex-husband's death and blamed Lois and Superman for it; Superman for not saving him and Lois for "driving him to his death" after refusing him at the altar. She created a double of Lois to discredit her and tried to kill Superman with a Kryptonite bullet. However she failed and was sent to prison along with the double. Gretchen was left behind to look after Lex's body and said that even though Arianna failed, he would always have her. (Madame Ex) In an attempt to get Superman's powers for herself, Gretchen was in a serious battle with the Man of Steel and a new hero called Resplendent Man resulting in serious damage done to the equipment keeping Lex's frozen corpse alive. Afterwards Gretchen in disguise, transferred the corpse somewhere else under the sewers of Metropolis. (A Bolt from the Blue) After several days, Gretchen contacted Lex's former P.A Nigel St.John to witness her trying to bring Lex back from the dead. When it seemed as if Lex would never make it after the damage done to the equipment, she finally succeeded when Lex suddenly came back to life, smashing his way out of his frozen chamber much to the amazement of Gretchen and Nigel. After being treated by Gretchen and given clothes, Lex checked his bank accounts to see if he still had his fortune, but to his dismay found that his former attorney Sheldon Bender had stolen his entire fortune and as a temporary side effect of his resurrection, he was losing his hair, so he arranged for Gretchen to shave it off, making him bald. He decided to gain what he had lost before his death, rekindle his relationship with Lois Lane and destroy Superman. He arranged for Nigel and Gretchen to kidnap Bender and bring them to him, which they succeeded in doing. Lex then tortured Bender out of vengeance, threatening to feed him to the rats if he didn't give the information he wanted. Sheldon tried to bargain with Luthor by saying he knew someone who owned Kryptonite. Lex accepted his proposition, but threatened to kill him if he double-crossed him. In the disguise of an old man, Lex met Lois once again and feel in love with her once more determined to get her back by force if necessary. Later Lex, Nigel and Bender visited Metropolis Prison to see Rollie Vale (whose brother Emmet had stolen the Kryptonite from Lex Labs to power his cyborg in [[Metallo|''Metallo]]), Rollie agreed to give Lex the Kryptonite in exchange for a half a million dollars and his freedom. Lex then decide to create a diversion to get the equipment they needed to break Vale out and in the disguise of a janitor, wired a bomb to Perry White's chair at the Daily Planet. While the Man of Steel was saving Perry, Lex successfully gained the equipment. Lex met Lois once again in his old man disguised and revealed himself to the astounded reporter. He told Lois that he had never stopped loving her and now that he was alive again that they should give their relationship another chance, but Lois refused, but showed him some mercy by not turning him into the police. Lex then had Bender arrange for Vale to be moved to the courthouse for another hearing and returned him to his home, but then arranged for Nigel to kill him after he found out that Lois and Clark were investigating and that he may of turned him in. In a van, Lex and Nigel set off to break Vale out of the prison van and arranged for Gretchen to capture Lois and bring her to him. They succeeded in breaking Vale out and took him back to their sewer hideout, while Gretchen captured Lois who had been hanging around there. When they arrived, Vale gave Lex the Kryptonite that had been concealed in his robotic right arm (Corben had crushed his real arm after he had tried to dislodge his power supply). Lex decided to lure Superman to him so he could be killed and gave the Kryptonite to Nigel for safe keeping. He attempted to double-cross Vale, but to his astonishment, Nigel double-crossed him revealing himself to be a spy for the new criminal organisation Intergang. In anger, Lex threw Vale at Nigel who shot a crossbow bolt at him and knocked out Vale before escaping with the Kryptonite and his partner Ramine. Gretchen attended to the wounded Lex who painfully pulled out the bolt, but when Lois tried to intervene, she pushed her into the rat pit. Lex tried to save the reporter, but Gretchen pulled him away, saying that she was the one who really loved him because she had sacrificed everything to bring him back to life. Lex got frustrated and pushed Gretchen away knocking her into a high voltage generator, killing her. Superman suddenly arrived and saved Lois much to Lex's dismay. He told Superman that even though he had failed to kill him again, the Man of Steel would not capture him alive. He ran to the generator to commit suicide again, but Superman short-circuited the wires so Lex wouldn't "cheat justice twice". After finally finding out that Lois had never really loved him, Lex with a heavy heart, was captured by his arch-enemy, arrested and sent to prison to serve a double life sentence for his crimes. (''The Phoenix'') Season 3 Episode Appearances Season 1 *Pilot *Neverending Battle *I'm Looking Through You *Requiem for a Superhero *I've Got a Crush on You *Smart Kids *The Man of Steel Bars *Pheromone, My Lovely *Honeymoon in Metropolis *All Shook Up *The Ides of Metropolis *Foundling *Fly Hard *Barbarians at the Planet *The House of Luthor Season 2 *Madame Ex (As a dead frozen corpse) *A Bolt from the Blue (As a dead frozen corpse) *The Phoenix Season 3 *Double Jeopardy *Seconds Season 4 *Shadow of a Doubt (Voice only) Gallery Category:Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Villains Category:Season 1 Characters Category:Season 2 Characters Category:Season 3 Characters Category:Season 4 Characters Category:Recurring Villains Category:Deceased Characters